Month: June 2015

By now, you’ve probably seen the AT&T Uverse commercial in which a young lady with the last name of Cortez is the first female in the major leagues. It got me thinking – is there any way a woman could play major league baseball, and if so, what positions could a woman play?

Let’s start with the premise of women playing Major League Baseball at all. I believe it’s possible – baseball is not as physical of a sport as say, football or hockey. No one gets tackled in baseball (unless there’s a bench clearing brawl) or gets into a fight (see the previous parentheses). However, women are not as strong as men unless they’re taking steroids, and as we all know, that’s illegal. Other issues include dressing out for games and practices, and hotel rooms on the road.

So let’s look at the positions that I don’t think women could play. Even though there is a woman pitcher in the commercial, I don’t believe women have the arm strength and the endurance to be a pitcher. A woman could have the hand-eye coordination to play in the outfield, although I don’t think their arms are strong enough to throw a ball to home plate if necessary.

Even with adequate chest protection, it would be hard for a woman to be a catcher. The new rule prohibits a catcher from being bowled over by a runner at the plate, but there are other accidents waiting to happen for a catcher behind the plate. Second base or third base are possibilities, but women could get injured by players sliding with their spikes up.

That leaves the shortstop position and first base. The shortstop position requires a player with agility and a good eye, and throwing distance is less than in the outfield. The first base position requires a player who is ready at all times, whether for turning double plays and who can keep a runner close to the base, and who can also catch foul balls. Another position, but in the American League only, would be the designated hitter. If a woman is a DH, there is no worries about whether or not she can play a position.

Interestingly, MLB announced today that a female French shortstop named Melissa Mayeux is the first woman to be added to the international registration list, which means she could possibly be signed by a major league team on July 2. Ms. Mayeux is only 16 years old, but the fact that she was added to the registration list at all is groundbreaking No doubt some of the women who played in the All-American Girls’ Professional Baseball League in the 1940’s and 1950’s would have loved to have seen this day.

I’ve played some coed softball in my day, but God didn’t see fit to give me the hand-eye coordination or the athletic ability to perform any kind of sports. I’m sure He knew what he was doing. I’ve been told I throw like a girl – hey, I am one!

(with apologies to Monty Python) This has been a bizarre season, to say the least. First, the Cards lose Adam Wainwright for the year due to an Achilles tendon tear. Next, the Cards lose Matt Adams after a Grade 4 tear to his right quad. Jordan Walden is also on the DL. Then Matt Holliday went on the DL with a tear of his right quad, but thankfully, not as severe as Adams’ tear. Lance Lynn suffered some discomfort in his right forearm and was put on the DL, but he should return soon. And now Rosenthal is suffering some arm tightness, so he has not been available out of the bullpen the last couple of days.

But even though the team has had all these injuries, the players that are uninjured have banded together and played hard. As of today, the Cardinals still have the best record in the majors. This is no doubt due to excellent managing by Mike Matheny.

The cap on this bizarre season, however, is the news that the Cardinals are under investigation by the FBIfor allegedly hacking into the Houston Astros’ database system by using some of Jeff Luhnow’s old computer passwords. Twitter and Facebook were blown up by comments and tweets. Here are my thoughts, for what they’re worth.

First, why didn’t Luhnow change his passwords when he went to the Astros? At the law firm I work at, your password has to be changed every 45 days. The Cardinals obviously had Luhnow’s passwords, but when he built the new database for the Astros, he should have set up new passwords. If he had, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now.

Second, if some of the Cardinals’ personnel suspected that Luhnow had taken the database and the other proprietary information with him to the Astros, why didn’t they go to Cardinals’ upper management and report their suspicions? It could have then been investigated through the proper channels, rather than using Luhnow’s passwords on a computer in someone’s basement (as I read about earlier, but unfortunately, I can’t find the article now).

Third, why hack the Astros? If it were disgruntled Cardinals employees who were upset with Luhnow, that could have been handled as per point 2 above. I could think of other teams more worthy to hack than the Astros, however.

Let’s not rush to judgment until we have all the information. There is limited information at this time, so we can’t rush to judgment against the Cardinals’ front office if indeed they had anything to do with this or knew about it in any way. The Cardinals players, manager, and coaches knew nothing about this until the news broke and they had nothing to do with this, so let’s keep on supporting them and loving them. Unfortunately, hacking is a Federal offense, so harsh punishment, which includes prison time and heavy fines will be the result of this investigation.

The Cards certainly have had their share of injuries this season, haven’t they? Waino tore his Achilles tendon and Matt Adams suffered a Grade 4 tear of his right quad, effectively ending their seasons. Reliever Jordan Walden is also on the DL. Matt Holliday went on the disabled list earlier this week with a Grade 2 tear of his right quad. Lance Lynn reported discomfort in his right forearm, so he was evaluated and he has been put on the 15 day DL. Even with all these injuries, however, the Cards have kept on battling and they still have the best record in baseball. A lesser team would crumble under all this adversity, but not our Cards. Let’s hope that Lynn and Holliday recover soon and that there be no more injuries to our guys this season.

Tyler Lyons has been called up from Memphis to replace Lynn and he will take Lynn’s scheduled start tomorrow evening. Here’s all the details on that:

CARDINALS PITCHER LANCE LYNN PLACED ON 15-DAY D.L.;

LEFTY TYLER LYONS RECALLED FROM MEMPHIS (AAA) & WILL START TOMORROW

ST. LOUIS, Mo., June 12, 2015 – The St. Louis Cardinals announced prior to tonight’s game that they have placed right-handed pitcher Lance Lynn (right forearm strain) on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to June 8, and have recalled left-handed pitcher Tyler Lyons from Memphis (AAA).

Lyons, 27, will be making his second appearance of the season with the Cardinals, after having made three starts (13.0 IP/17 strikeouts) from May 5-16.

Following his option to Memphis on May 16, Lyons has been one of the top pitchers in the Pacific Coast League, going 3-1 with a 2.36 ERA (26.2 IP/7 ER) his last four starts at Triple-A. Lyons’ overall mark at Memphis is 5-2 with a 2.61 ERA (7th in PCL) in eight starts, striking out 56 (6th) while walking only nine in his 48.1 innings of work.

The 6-4, 200-pound Lyons was named Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Week for the week ending June7 after going 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA (13.0 IP) in two starts last week. It was the third such honor during his career, the most ever by a Memphis Redbirds pitcher.

Lyons overall mark in the majors stands at 2-8 with a 4.73 ERA in 26 games (15 starts). He faced the Royals in his 2nd career start on May 28, 2013 in a 4-1 win at Kauffman Stadium, allowing just one run on two hits in 7.0 IP.

Here’s a great contest from Cardinals Authentics that I wanted to share with all of you. The prize would be a great present for your favorite Cards fan dad. You do have to be able to go to a Cardinals Authentic store to sign up, however. Here are the details:

CARDINALS AUTHENTICS GIVING DADS THE CHANCE TO ‘STEAL SECOND’

In-store contest featuring one-of-a-kind prize runs through June 20 at both store locations

ST. LOUIS, June 8, 2015 – In honor of Father’s Day, Cardinals Authentics is giving fans the opportunity to win a one-of-a-kind prize for their dad: two tickets to a Cardinals game, a personalized Louisville Slugger bat, an authenticated game-used ball from the game they attend, and the chance to run on the field and “steal” second base to take home with them.

To enter the contest, fans must visit a Cardinals Authentics location and fill out an official entry form by Saturday, June 20. One winner will be selected at random and be notified on, or around, Sunday June 21. No purchase necessary.

Cardinals Authentics is located on the first floor of Cardinals Nation in Ballpark Village and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. A second location can be found inside Busch Stadium in centerfield between Gates 5 and 6, however this location is only accessible during home games.

In addition to the contest, Cardinals Authentics is also offering a free gift with purchase through June 20. With a minimum $100 purchase, fans will receive a limited edition commemorative pin set. The retro-themed pin set includes four pins featuring Cardinals logos from 1917-1966. The free gift is limited to one per customer per location per day; while supplies last.

As the only official source of game-used, limited-edition and autographed memorabilia straight from the team, Cardinals Authentics allows fans to take home a piece of the game. Specializing in valuable, one-of-a-kind collectibles, Authentics lets fans commemorate special occasions, hold onto important memories and celebrate great moments in team history in a completely unique way. Cardinals Authentics guarantees genuine memorabilia for all Cardinals fans as part of MLB’s comprehensive league-wide memorabilia authentication initiative. Fans can shop the Cardinals Authentics Stores located at Ford Plaza inside Busch Stadium, on the first floor of Cardinals Nation inside Ballpark Village, and online at cardinalsauthentics.com.

I was fortunate enough to have attended last night’s game. It was quite an entertaining game. We had great seats in section 248, which are the best seats I’ve ever had in Busch Stadium III. They were behind home plate, the next level up from the field box seats in the Home Redbird Club. You could hear the ball hit the catcher’s mitt and the ball crack the bat. If Joe West had made his calls any louder, we could have heard them too.

Speaking of Joe West, if his strike zone had been any bigger, you could have driven a Mack truck through it. Matt Holliday was right to argue the called strike 3 and the Gameday graphic of his at bat backs him up. Mike Matheny came out to back up Holliday (and hopefully cool him down), but sadly, both of them were ejected. It was also Holliday’s last at-bat, so his on-base streak of 45 games ended with the botched call.

One of the benefits of baseball’s slow pace is that you can check Twitter and Facebook on your smartphone between batters. There were various Joe West memes flooding Twitter and Facebook last night. One of my favorite memes consisted of 2 of the same photos of West ejecting Matheny side by side and in the second photo West’s head is replaced by Grumpy Cat’s head. I think Grumpy Cat would object to that, however, and it might even be copyright infringement. Joe West needs retire for good. There needs to be a definite retirement age for umpires, if there isn’t one already.

There was an amusing play in the fourth inning when three of the Brewers, who were chasing a foul ball hit by Matt Carpenter, and two of them (Segura and Ramirez) tumbled into the third base field box seats. It reminded me of a Cubs play.

Yadi has lost too much weight, I think; he almost looks anorexic. I wonder if the weight loss has affected his hitting. The weight loss is good for his knees, but not for his hitting. His timing is off at the plate. He is swinging at the first pitch too much, although he did a little better today.

And speaking of hitting, where is the offense? Grichuk went 2 for 3. The Cards hit into 3 double plays, and didn’t have a runner in scoring position after the second inning. It would have been nice to have some of those runs from today’s game last night.

Lance Lynn did a masterful job pitching with only 1 run in support, and the BFIB cheered loudly when Matheny took him out and put Kevin Siegrist in. Lynn acknowledged the fans’ love by tipping his hat to us. He certainly is a class act.

Trevor Rosenthal did his usual job of making me a nervous wreck when he pitches. In the bottom of the ninth, there were runners on first and third and only one out. Thankfully, Kolten Wong and Kevin Reynolds turned an excellent double play and the fireworks went off.

Since the son and I took the Metrolink, we didn’t get home until almost 11 PM But we had a good time, even though I was dragging at work today. We had a great time.